


Reading "I'll Be There"

by yourlibrarian



Series: Reading Fan Vids [11]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Commentary, Fanvids, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:51:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6751057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/pseuds/yourlibrarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy was a unique slayer because she didn't fight her battles alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reading "I'll Be There"

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I'll Be There](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/194866) by Millylicious. 



> Originally posted August 17, 2008

Milly's new Buffy vid is full of Scooby love. She looks at how Buffy didn't do slaying (or life) alone, but had love and support along the way, even when she didn't realize it was there for her. 

The vid starts out introducing the various Scoobies, setting up their roles in the show, and while centering on Buffy as the hero, also setting her within the larger group. There were always the four of them, sometimes working at cross purposes, but reconciled in the end. The vid is all about the insides of the show. With the exception of the "apocalypse" lyrics section we don't really see Buffy being heroic so much as she's a part of this team, sometimes giving comfort, sometimes receiving. I like the example that we're given with Giles, tending to Buffy's cut, and at the same time the scene is matched with the lyric "looking out for her thin skin." There were also other scenes where we see her drawing strength from and relying on Xander and Willow for key assistance. The main drawback is that this is very much a fanvid, in that a lot of scene recognition has to be brought to bear to the various clips -– recognizing where they came from and what surrounded them. But if you are one then this story falls into place.

One intriguing set of scenes is when Xander resuscitates Buffy in S1 and this is contrasted with Willow doing it in S6. It never occurred to me before how these actions paralleled one another (and in each case her vampires had to stand by, having failed her). It led me to think about how her reactions on returning differed. In the first case it left her with a fear of death, expressed through her anger at others and her fear of the Master. In the second, it left her with a case of depression and a desire for death. And especially since we couldn't really relate to her feelings about heaven, I think it really spoke to what Buffy's experience of life had become since the end of S1.

Although the vid has Buffy as the center of it, it's told from the perspective of those around her and the way they see both her and their roles in relation to her. She is both "just a girl" and also humanity's savior, and they are simultaneously her friends, her sounding boards, her caretakers, and her soldiers.


End file.
